


Shaky Ground

by thealphagate_archivist



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: Drama, M/M, Romance, Vignette
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-12-24
Updated: 2006-12-24
Packaged: 2019-02-02 13:24:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 865
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12727404
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thealphagate_archivist/pseuds/thealphagate_archivist
Summary: Jack wonders what is bothering Daniel during the season of Goodwill.





	Shaky Ground

**Author's Note:**

> Note from the archivists: this story was originally archived at [The Alpha Gate](https://fanlore.org/wiki/The_Alpha_Gate), a Stargate SG-1 archive, which began migration to the AO3 in 2017 when its hosting software, eFiction, was no longer receiving support. To preserve the archive, we began manually importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project in November 2017. We e-mailed all creators about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are this creator and it hasn't transferred to your AO3 account, please contact us using the e-mail address on [The Alpha Gate collection profile](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/thealphagate).

  
Author's notes: Part two of the Unreachable Stars.  
  
Unbetaed, so please forgive any slip-ups.  


* * *

I stare at Daniel as he walks to his car. Not admiring for once, threat assessing. There’s something about the way he’s walking that just doesn’t seem right, doesn’t seem to fit with what he just said. Daniel has two walking speeds, hurry and saunter. Hurry when he has a purpose, saunter when he’s thinking. He implied he has a purpose, so why’s he sauntering?

Add that to how confused I’m feeling ‘cause of the length of time Daniel stood on my front step. Five whole minutes, a damn long time when you’re standing on the other side of the door waiting for that knock. 

Something’s definitely wrong.

Suddenly I panic, could he possibly have guessed what I was planning to talk to him about and he’s freaking out. Oh crap! 

Wait, how can he possibly know? I only decided last evening that I couldn’t keep these feelings to myself any longer and I haven’t seen Daniel since then. There’s no way he could know. Might be spooky the way he can sometimes tell what I’m thinking, how I’m feeling, but he has to be in my presence for that to work. Doesn’t he? Course he does, stop being….

“Jack?” 

I look up to see Daniel standing right in front of me, I was so self-involved I hadn’t even noticed he’d come back.

“What’s wrong?” he asks me, that concerned look in his gorgeous eyes. But on closer inspection there’s something else, something deeper causing that concerned look. That’s the other half of the equation see, I can read him as surely as he can read me and something’s really bothering him. 

Shrugging, I tell him, “Nothing. Come on in, dinner’s nearly ready.”

“You cooked?” Daniel smiles, humour lighting his eyes and he seems to visibly relax and I feel the pleasure all the way down to my toes. It always makes me feel good that I can make him smile; make him happy, even if just for a few short hours. That thought makes me wonder if I’m risking that by unburdening myself. Damn, why did I use that phrase? Now, I can’t help but consider if that’s all it is, that I have this _need_ to tell him no matter if he needs to hear it! Damn!

I realise he is still staring at me, waiting for an answer. I manage to smile and say, “Sure, it’s a special day so I’m pulling out all the stops.” Special day? Yeah that was the idea. Now I don’t know.

Once inside, Daniel hands me a small package, neatly wrapped in tasteful paper, subtle and understated, rather like Daniel. “Don’t open it until tomorrow,” he says, eyes cast downward.

“Okay,” I reply softly. “Is something wrong?” I blurt out. Crap I never meant to ask him that!

“No!” he replies, too sharply. I raise an eyebrow and he shrugs a little. “Not really,” he says, trying to look casual – and failing.

I suddenly decide this is no good. There is definitely something wrong and it has to do with _me_. He stood outside for five minutes, why? And no matter that he denied it, he was gonna bolt. Now he’s having trouble looking me in the eye, and trying to cover it with smiles but other than that one moment when I admitted I cooked, the smiles never reach his eyes. 

With a sigh, I say, “Danny, talk to me. I know something’s wrong.” He doesn’t reply, doesn’t even look at me. “It’s me, isn’t it? What’ve I done? I didn’t mean…”

“No, god, no! It’s not you, it’s me…”

He stops as soon as the words slip out. He didn’t mean to tell me that. He’s looking down again. What has him so worried?

Gently I say, “I won’t understand if you don’t explain, Daniel.” I step closer, “Trust me, Daniel.”

He looks up then, “I do. It’s not…”

“Not what?” Suddenly, it hits me. “It’s not me you don’t trust, it’s _you!_ ”

Eyes widening, a dull flush colouring his cheeks, he stares at me. Huskily, he says, “I don’t trust myself with you.” 

I can see the fear in Daniel’s eyes at what he just confessed, but I do my best to let him see the joy in mine. I smile, and say, “I trust my life, my soul, my heart to you. I trust you to love me…” Daniel gasps. I reach out and touch his cheek, “As I love you.”

“Jack,” he breathes, staring into my eyes, and this time the smile lights his whole face. “Oh god, Jack.”

“I thought I was on shaky ground and all the time we were on the same path,” I confess.

Daniel leans his forehead against mine, holding my gaze, “I thought you were so far out of reach, like the pinpricks in the night sky.”

I grinned, “Daniel, we go to those stars almost daily, together.” 

“So, now we can visit them nightly,” he smiles. Then he grabs my shoulders, pulls me in as close as he can and his warm lips cover mine. Oh yeah, I’m already soaring!


End file.
